From a press release issued by FGSport Group:

Laconi Fastest on the Island

Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila 999F04), who had such poor fortune on raceday at the opening round of the season at Valencia, was once more the king of qualifying, heading the time sheets at Phillip Island after one timed session. His best lap of 1:34.068 netted him overnight pole position, after some serious pressure from SBK new boy Garry McCoy (NCR Ducati Nortel 999). The little Aussie battler was fully on the pace, fastest at one stage before Laconi gritted his teeth against the blustery winds and finally slotted into top placing on the stopwatch, 0.426 seconds clear of McCoy.

Second quickest was nonetheless an excellent early result for a rider in only his second World Superbike race. Local riders were well represented on the top of the timesheets, with Steve Martin (DFX Extreme Sterilgarda Ducati 999 RS) securing third fastest time, just ahead of his team-mate Marco Borciani. Valencia race two winner Noriyuki Haga (Renegade Ducati 999) slipped to fifth place, while 998 Ducati privateer Lucio Pedercini made use of his years of experience and good circuit set-up knowledge to storm through to sixth place – ahead of many more powerful machines.

Young Aussie Chris Vermeulen, the 21-year-old reigning World Supersport champion, battled to seventh on his still developing Ten Kate Honda Fireblade, missing out on the chance to finish higher up the order after technical gremlins struck just as he fitted a qualifying tyre. Pierfrancesco Chili (PSG-1 Ducati 999RS) rode his newer spec machine to the eighth fastest lap of the day, ahead of 20-year-old Brit Leon Haslam (Renegade Ducati).

James Toseland (Ducati Fila) had a difficult day, falling from his factory machine on two separate occasions, only qualifying in 10th place. His fellow countryman, Chris Walker, rode his three-cylinder Petronas FP-1 to 11th place, one ahead of his team-mate Troy Corser – still the fastest man around Phillip Island in qualifying and race conditions.

The final qualifying session takes place on Saturday morning, with the later Superpole session determining the final grid positions for the top 16 qualifiers.

For those who do not have access to live TV coverage, the weekend action can be followed in real time on the SBK website, www.worldsbk.com.


World Superbike Qualifying
Phillip Island, Australia
March 26, 2004

1. Regis Laconi, Ducati 999F04, 1:34.068
2. Garry McCoy, Ducati 999RS, 1:34.494
3. Steve Martin, Ducati 999RS, 1:35.028
4. Marco Borciani, Ducati 999RS, 1:35.080
5. Noriyuki Haga, Ducati 999RS, 1:35.346
6. Lucio Pedercini, Ducati 998RS, 1:35.443
7. Chris Vermeulen, Honda CBR1000RR, 1:35.614
8. Pierfrancesco Chili, Ducati 999RS, 1:35.633
9. Leon Haslam, Ducati 999RS, 1:35.743
10. James Toseland, Ducati 999F04, 1:35.752
11. Chris Walker, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:35.832
12. Troy Corser, Foggy Petronas FP1, 1:35.871
13. Ivan Clementi, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:35.935
14. Mauro Sanchini, Kawasaki ZX-10R, 1:35.936
15. Gianluca Nannelli, Ducati 998RS, 1:36.017
16. Piergiorgio Bontempi, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:37.016
17. Sergio Fuertes, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:37.187
18. Warwick Nowland, Suzuki GSX-R1000, 1:38.745
19. Alessio Velini, Yamaha YZF-R1, 1:39.082
20. Jiri Mrkyvka, Ducati 998RS, 1:40.564
21. Miguel Praia, Ducati 999RS, 1:41.182


More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist:

ROW THREE FOR TROY ON OPENING DAY

Troy finished the first day of qualifying at Phillip Island with the 12th quickest time after experiencing some tyre problems in the two sessions today. Troy was looking forward to a good performance at one of his favourite circuits, but today didn’t go entirely to plan. Frenchman Regis Laconi (Ducati) led the charge today and ended with a time of 1:34.068 and provisional pole. Second fastest today is Garry McCoy, ahead of Steve Martin and Marco Borciani – all Ducati-mounted.

TROY
I am struggling a bit with the front tyre at the moment and getting some chattering. We couldn’t fix it this morning, so I just had to try and ride round the problem. The wind kept changing direction, so that didn’t help either! We changed the front fork later on today and I felt better, but then we lost some grip! At the moment I’m not happy with the set-up and I’m not happy because we are quite a bit down on our top speed – ten kph slower then Regis (Laconi). We’ll change the front tomorrow for sure and maybe a little adjustment to the rear as well. So far, the engines are being consistent, but I feel that they are a tad slower then normal, so we’ll have to see how it pans out tomorrow. I certainly don’t want to be on row three after Superpole!


More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

LACONI (DUCATI FILA) HITS TOP FORM AT PHILLIP ISLAND

Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 26 March: Regis Laconi (Ducati Fila) powered his Ducati 999 to the top of the timesheets in the opening qualifying session at Phillip Island after getting the best of Garry McCoy (Xerox Ducati 999) in the final few minutes.

His Ducati Fila team-mate James Toseland was less fortunate, the British youngster recording his second crash of the day at the start of qualifying to end up an unfamiliar tenth quickest.

“That was not so bad but it was very windy in the afternoon and it was so hard to make the same lap time as this morning, but it’s the same for everyone” declared Laconi. “We still have some work to do because I’m not so happy with the feeling of the front of the bike. For the rest it’s OK, we’ll see what’s happening tomorrow and if there is not so much wind, we should improve. It was good to see McCoy up there, he is at his home track but I give my best to be still at the front”.

Toseland was frustrated to find himself down in tenth position on the second Ducati Fila 999. “Well, that was probably my worst day in quite a few years. I crashed twice and both times I got up wondering what happened” he explained. “I want it to be my fault when I crash so I can kick myself and find out why. I’m sure I’m not making any mistakes but I’m finding myself on the floor, so we’ve got to find out why and understand it and then I can alter what I’m doing wrong.

“We’ve tried a few things on the bike and that’s made it better but there are a few places where I just don’t have any feeling at all” he added. “I just want to be able to get rid of that and work on the bike and push again because there’s no point in pushing if that happens. We’re not far away but at the moment I feel right on the limit doing slow times and that’s very frustrating. But I’m sure we’ll sort things out and get the job done tomorrow.”


More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks – Scuderia Caracchi:

Garry McCoy second fastest in the debut day at Phillip Island

Garry McCoy started in the best of ways his home WSBK race on the 4445 meters of Phillip Island circuit. The Australian rider of Scuderia Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks has been outright the leader of the first qualifying session until 27 seconds to the end, when Laconi on the factory Ducati overtook him. However the Xerox Ducati Nortel Networks 999RS of Scuderia Caracchi has been the fastest machine on the track, in the morning’s free practice, when Garry scored the third fastest, and as well during afternoon qualifying, with a brilliant result for the engineer crew managed by Marco Mozzone.

“I’m quite satisfied of this debut day.” – said a smiling Garry to the group of Australian media representatives who were interviewing him – “During the morning session the bike, despite its high top speed, the feeling of the bike wasn’t very good. Its front was too high and it wasn’t steering. Then, after the new set up everything was running well. In the afternoon the track was faster and the tyres were working very well, the rear was sliding, but just like I love. So in such track conditions we took the decision to use a qualifying tyre and I scored easily a fast laptime. The tyres during the afternoon session were running perfectly, even though I haven’t actually a perfect feeling with Pirelli, but I must say that everybody is in the same conditions, but some riders that have done developing tests. The new rules imposes a particular strategy for using the available tyres, to avoid to miss the right tyre for Superpole, which is the session to settle the starting grid and it’s very important. The bike has a good reaction to the set up changes we have made this afternoon, so, depending on the weather, I’m confident that tomorrow too I could get a good result.”

On the other side it was a black day for Miguel Praia, not qualified at the moment for the race.

“I found some difficulties.” – tell a disappointed Praia – “I’ve not been able to find a good set up for the bike and select the tyres. During the morning’s free practice I heared a strange noise from the bike, so I stop. Later in the garage the bike was running perfectly and not even the data recording found something wrong. In the afternoon I’ve been faster, but Laconi and Garry were actually two rockets, so I’ve been not able to catch the qualifying limit. But every time I practice I’m faster, so I hope tomorrow to be able to qualify.”


More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda:

Vermeulen Goes Seventh After First Day of Qualifying

Home tarmac and a subtly improved CBR1000RR allowed World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) to make an impressive mark in only his second ever World Superbike race weekend, with the 21-year-old Queenslander securing seventh spot after the first day of his home race meeting.

His best lap of 1:35.612 was put in on race tyres, a good sign for further improvement come race day, and keeps Vermeulen in touch with the provisional pole man Regis Laconi (Ducati), who set a 1:34.068 lap.

“That wasn’t too bad,” said Chris. “We made some changes to the bike set-up and got it working better. I was consistently inside the top five until the end, then we had a small problem with the bike and we didn’t get to use a qualifying tyre. It’s just a teething problem with the new bike and this is only our second race with it. Both bikes are the same spec really, but only one has got a quick shifter. This is the first time I’ve really ridden with one – because they aren’t allowed in Supersport – and I really enjoyed the experience. There is a big difference. I’m happy. We’ve been to Valencia but this place is so different in terms of set-up. But we’re getting there, slowly but surely.”

For the team, Phillip Island is another new challenge on the new CBR1000RR. “When everyone was still using race tyres we were up in fourth place and making steady progress,” said team manager Ronald Ten Kate. “Improving the new bike is the biggest issue for us again. When we put in the qualifying tyre at the end of the session we had a little problem with the bike so we couldn’t really get full use of it. But we are happy, making good steps in all directions. The bikes are basically up to the same spec right now and we’ve found a reasonably happy set-up for tomorrow, so overnight we will build both bikes the same. We had different geometry and spring rates on each bike, playing around with some options but tomorrow we now know the direction to go in.”